Mapping the clouds: the matter of data centers

The social spatial geographies of telecommunications and their infrastructures have long interested scholars in the social sciences, and in urban geography specifically. This paper focuses on data centers. Much effort has been placed in preserving the notion that data centers are ‘clouds’, a terminology that obfuscates the real human geographies of cyberplaces. In this map-making exercise, we visualize the sociopolitical human geographies of data centers, and provoke the reader to consider the impacts that data centers have on residents and their environments. The maps shown in this paper suggest four trends. First, hyperscale data center owners are building near large waterways, signifying a shift in location preferences. Second, data centers stress local administrations, financing, and availability of upstream resources, as hyperscale data centers step up their input needs. Third, data center development is state-led. Fourth the competition for data center industries unfolds across a multi-level governance context.

电信及其基础设施的社会空间地理学研究，长期以来一直是社会科学学者，尤其是城市地理学领域研究者的核心关注议题。本研究聚焦于数据中心。学界长期沿用“数据中心即‘云’”的表述，这一术语掩盖了赛博空间真实的人文地理图景。在本次制图研究中，我们对数据中心的社会政治人文地理特征进行可视化呈现，并启发读者思考数据中心对当地居民及其生存环境造成的多重影响。本文呈现的地图揭示了四大趋势：其一，超大规模数据中心（hyperscale data center）的运营主体正将数据中心布局于大型水系周边，这标志着其选址偏好发生显著转变；其二，随着超大规模数据中心的资源投入需求持续攀升，其建设运营给地方行政体系、财政能力及上游资源供给带来了沉重压力；其三，数据中心建设呈现政府主导的特征；其四，数据中心产业的竞争在多层级治理框架下逐步展开。